Where You Should Store Bitcoins Before BitcoinGold BTG and Segwit2x B2X BTC2 Hard Forks

The Bitcoin network has 2 hard forks planned “Bitcoin Gold – BTG” and “Bitcoin Segwit2x – B2X or BTC2”. Bitcoin Gold is scheduled for October 25, while the other hard fork Segwit2x (BTC2 or B2X) will take place roughly around mid-November or block height 494784. At the moment both of the planned forks, Bitcoin Gold and Bitcoin Segwit2x, do not have replay protection added to their project’s codebase. Segwit2x initially had an opt-in type of replay protection, but developers have since removed the protocol. Bitcoin Gold promises replay protection, but the code also has not been added to the Github repository.

This is problematic and may be cause for neither of the 2 forks to be supported by a large majority, so I recommend that you do NOT perform ANY transactions until the dust settles about a week or 2 after each fork.

Later on in this article, I will list which wallets will support Bitcoin Gold and which exchanges and wallets will support Bitcoin SegWit2x.

Where You Should Store Bitcoins Before BitcoinGold BTG and Segwit2x B2X BTC2 Hard Fork?

Bitcoin Gold is a community-activated hard fork of Bitcoin to make mining decentralized again.

FINALLY BitcoinGold has launched their website with information about the the fork due to occur 25October2017

The only thing to do now is to collect as many bitcoins as you possibly can, enjoy and claim your free Bitcoin Gold coins!

Why is the BitcoinGold BTG Hard Fork Happening?

The Bitcoin Gold project is being driven by some developers, miners, and their head Jack Liao, the CEO of the Hong Kong-based mining equipment manufacturing company, LightningAsic.

This is a community-driven hard fork without any consensus voting. It is primarily being driven by a few who believe that the original Bitcoin mining system has become centralized and is monopolized by a handful of mining companies.

They believe this because of ASIC miners which provide a very strong entry barrier for an average user or miner like you and me.

And now, these hard fork supporters want to change that and make the process more decentralized.

And with Ethereum moving to Proof of Stake (POS) consensus, this is a kind of masterstroke for this BitcoinGold (BTG) because then those who are mining Ethereum will have to switch to either BTG or Zcash or another GPU minable currency in the future. See http://whattomine.com

But they know they are not competing with Bitcoin (BTC) and BitcoinCash (BCH) as stated by their lead developer in a conversation with Bitcoin.com.

The idea is that BTG will be mineable by GPU computers and generally be a faster, lower fee version of Bitcoin.

Who Is Supporting SegWit2x?

According to a Medium post, as of May 25, 2017, representing 83.28% of hashing power, SegWit2x HAD these supporters:

Video discussing this blog article and educating you about Hard Forks, Segwit, Replay Protection, and more

But as of now, at the time of writing this article (late October 2017),I am unsure that all of these groups are still supporting it.

Bitcoin is now approximately one month out from the scheduled date for the activation of SegWit2x, a controversial hard fork intended to increase the blocksize to improve the network’s scalability. Since the New York Agreement (NYA) was struck in May, a number of signatories have rescinded their support for SegWit2x, citing various concerns including the lack of opt-out replay protection, a dearth of community consensus, and the absence of support from Bitcoin Core developers.

However, SegWit2x proponents continued to point to the fact that roughly 95% of miners were signaling for the hard fork, alleging that the incumbent blockchain would not be able to survive without support from miners. However, F2Pool recently became the first mining pool to officially withdraw support for SegWit2x, placing a 10% dent in the hashrate consensus.

According to segwit.party, 25% of SegWit2x supporters have already withdrawn their support.

On the other hand, according to Coin Dance, out of 79 Bitcoin companies that they are tracking, 34 companies are in support, 9 are ready, and 36 are in opposition.

Out of these companies, Coinbase and Bitfinex have come out and openly stated that they will be supporting both chains for their users, but also appealed to users to wait until the dust settles.

Regardless, I recommend you NOT store your Bitcoins on Coinbase. See below where I talk about not owning your private keys = not owning your coins.

This article will be a dynamic document and will change as I get more information. If I left out some pertinent information, please comment below with a reference link so I can edit this piece.

How do I get some of this new FREE money called Bitcoin Gold and Bitcoin Segwit2x? Follow these steps: 1. If you have Bitcoin on an Coinbase or any other custodial purchasing/exchange platform – MOVE YOUR BITCOINS to a REAL Wallet that YOU Own the Private Keys To!

2. Move your bitcoins by creating a desktop wallet for your Bitcoins or use a Mobile Wallet and transfer the coins to that wallet.

3. IF YOU control the private key for your Bitcoin via a desktop or mobile wallet then YOU will have BitcoinGold-BTG and BitcoinSegwit2X-B2X or BTC2 in equal amounts.

4. How do I get BTG and B2X(BTC2)? Do I need a special wallet? Lets say you now put your Bitcoin into your desktop or mobile Wallet with a private key of “abc123456789qweeocfrtyuiop” or “cache cornflakes bodybuild lenovo gyros novalblack janetjackson remember sherlock kiyosaki titan extreme”. That key allows you to log in and view that BITCOIN. Now you wont see the Bitcoin Gold or Bitcoin Segwit2x in that wallet because it likely does not (yet) support those 2 chains.

FIND a Wallet that supports Bitcoin Gold (likely after Nov 1st). Download the NEW Bitcoin GOLD Wallet and use the same private key “abc123456789qweeocfrtyuiop” you use to access your existing Bitcoins, to access the Bitcoin Gold. The NEW Bitcoin Gold will appear in your Bitcoin Gold enabled wallet.

Do the same for Bitcoin Segwit2x (likely after Nov 30th).

Avoid transactions for a few days until the dust settles to minimize probability of replay attacks.

Keep your Bitcoin private keys with you, not in a third party exchange like Coinbase, or cryptocurrency exchanges like Bittrex, Poloniex, etc

Use hardware wallets like the Ledger Nano S and Trezor. Last time, during the Bitcoin Cash fork, these two hardware wallets were the first to support the forked coin.

If you don’t have a hardware wallet, use software wallets like Jaxx, Coinomi, and Exodus to control your private keys. Right now, XAPO has announced their wallet support for BitcoinGold

You can also use a paper wallet (i will post a tutorial tomorrow)

If you hold your keys in a paper wallet or software wallet, wait for instructions on how to access your forked coins.

We need exchanges and wallets to support this Bitcoin Gold fork; otherwise, it will have a hard time finding any value.

We are still watching closely to see whether BitcoinGold and Bitcoin Segwit2x hard forks will actually happen

Exchanges and Wallets That Support BitcoinGold (BTG) and BitcoinSegwit2x (B2X or BTC2)

We are NOT supporting any upcoming or future bitcoin forks. We are only running Bitcoin Core wallet and no other Bitcoin forks will be supported in the future. The Bitcoin Cash (BCH) fork was a one time only fork that we supported since Ledger Nano S had support for that fork.

Before the potential fork, Binance may suspend momentarily Bitcoin deposits and withdrawals. If the hardfork happens, Binance would like to support any meaningful forks. We will decide the coin listing depending on the situation, our priority is to protect our customers funds. If you are unsure on how to deal with the technical issues regarding the bitcoin forking, feel free to deposit your Bitcoins on Binance exchange in advance and we will handle it for you and ensure you will have all possible assets after the fork.

Kucoin BCG Asset Distribution Announcement Categories AnnouncementsOctober 9, 2017 BTC will be forking at Oct 25th, 2017 (UTC+8), the distribution shall respect the principle of Everyone-Benefits. From Oct 25th, 2017 (UTC+8), users will be acquiring BCG based on the Bitcoin holdings in Kucoin account (one Bitcoin deposit will reward one BCG. Depositing Bitcoin in advance is the prerequisite of rewarding BCG). The system will accomplish BCG distribution automatically within 3 days after the forking (before Oct 28th). To prevent any possible rollback or replay attack, we’ll suspend the Bitcoin transfer from Oct 24th, 2017 to Oct 27th, 2017 (UTC+8). Meanwhile, to guarantee the absolute safety of user assets, it’s recommended to transfer Bitcoin into Kucoin account beforehand, in case transfer blocked by any emergency situation. Kucoin team will evaluate BCG’s subsequent development and decide if it goes to list. Sincerely appreciate your support and understanding to Kucoin.

Kucoin Team Oct 9th, 2017

Bitfinex YES for BTG. YES for B2X/BTC2Their response for Bitcoin Segwitx2 is that it will be designated as B2X and Bitcoin will remain Bitcoin

While we are aware of the fork for Bitcoin Gold on October 25th, we do not plan to support it like we did for Bitcoin Cash. The development team behind the fork has not provided enough instructions and we do not know what they are exactly trying to achieve with this fork. We will be concentrating our efforts on the upcoming SegWit2X fork in November and will know more information as the date gets closer. As long as you hold the private key for your BTC, you will be able to claim Bitcoin Gold by exporting the private key and importing it into the dedicated bitcoin gold wallet when it becomes available.

We will credit you with an amount of BTG corresponding to the amount of Bitcoin (BTC) in your bitFlyer account prior to the split. 2 If the BTG split is deemed by bitFlyer to be permanent and secure in regards to customer assets, you will be able to own both BTC and BTG in your bitFlyer account.

BTG withdrawals and deposits will be enabled by the exchange

after sufficient observation of the stability in the BTG chain after the split

We are planning to provide bitcoin gold if a Bitcoin Gold split occurs

. However, Coincheck explained that there are circumstances where it may not be able to provide the new cryptocurrency, including a lack of adequate replay protection, miner hashpower, or protection from other vulnerabilities. In addition, the coins will not be made available if Coincheck decides that the “listing of bitcoin gold is inappropriate.” Currently, no service suspension has been planned. The exchange wrote:

We are planning to distribute bitcoin gold after we confirmed its security and stability. We haven’t determined the specific date and time yet.

Fisco – Japanese Bitcoin Exchange NO for BTG

Bitbank- Japanese Bitcoin Exchange NO for BTG

Trezor NO for BTG. NO RESPONSE for B2X/BTC2 Here is the statement of Trezor’s CTO on Reddit–

We are still evaluating this. Evaluation depends whether they will implement replay protection and the address change.

LedgerYES BTG –Ledger support will be available on November 13th (if BTG launch occurs as planned, and pending last minute hurdles)

You can use the private key for your BTC address to get BTC GOLD on an external service.

Thank you, Kingsley!

Electrum- NO RESPONSE

And as the fork time approaches, I will keep updating this article will more information on Bitcoin Gold and which wallets/exchanges are actually supporting it.

Last but not least, don’t fall prey to fake websites/wallets demanding your private keys to let you access your BTG.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Quite frankly, there is NO rush to get your Bitcoin Gold or Bitcoin Segwit2x so long as you have Bitcoin stored on ANY hardware, paper or desktop wallet where you control the private key before the snapshot October 25th. Unless of course, you want to get them and flip them for profits quickly on the exchanges. Then be sure to have them in a wallet that already supports BitcoinGold and/or BitcoinSegWit2x.

Remember that storing your cryptocurrencies on an exchange like Poloniex or a 3rd party like Coinbase during and after a fork means you are NOT in control of your coins. You are at the beck and call of those companies and the decisions they make for you. They may not let you deposit or withdraw between a specified period of time. So if you need access to funds that are on an exchange, you may not get them right away.

Additionally, some exchanges may not release support for these new hard forked coins right away, and again you will have to wait. For example, Coinbase still has not released bitcoin cash (BCH) holdings to their customers who kept funds on the trading platform prior to August 1. They announced that they will release the BCH in January 2018.

And even though you have keys on Blockchain wallet, they just released your BitcoinCash about 2 weeks ago!

Faith Sloan better known as "Queen Wiki" or "Crypto Queen" is a cryptocurrency enthusiast and trader. She has been a software engineer for 40 years and builds Decentralized Apps (DApps) on the Ethereum blockchain and plays with Tech toys. When she is not teaching, researching and writing about Cryptocurrencies, she's traveling the world and feeding her eating hobby.